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The Crooked Man - The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle · The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: The Crooked Man. One summer night, a few months after
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: my marriage, I was seated by my own hearth, smoking
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: a last pipe and nodding over a novel. For my
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: day's work had been an exhausting one. My wife had
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: already gone upstairs, and the sound of the locking of
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: the hall door some time before told me that the
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: servants had also retired. I had risen from my seat
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: and was knocking out the ashes of my pipe when
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: I suddenly heard the clang of the bell. I looked
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: at the clock. It was a quarter to twelve. This
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: could not be a visitor at so late an hour,
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: A patient, evidently, and possibly an all night Sitting with
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: a wry face, I went out into the hall and
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: opened the door. To my astonishment, it was Sherlock Holmes
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: who stood upon my step. Ah Watson said he. I
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: hoped that I might not be too late to catch you,
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: my dear fellow, pray come in. You look surprised and
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: no wonder relief. Two. I fancy hm, you still smoke
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: the Arcadia mixture of your bachelor days. Then there's no
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: mistaking that fluffy ash upon your coat. It's easy to
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: tell that you've been accustomed to wear a uniform, Watson,
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: you'll never pass as a pure bred civilian as long
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: as you keep that habit of carrying your handkerchief in
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  Speaker 1: your sleeve. Could you put me up to night with pleasure?
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  Speaker 1: You told me that you had bachelor quarters for one,
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  Speaker 1: and I see that you have no gentleman visitor at present.
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: Your hat stand proclaims as much. I shall be delighted
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: if you will stay. Thank you. I'll fill the vacant peg. Then.
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: Sorry to see that you've had the British workman in
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  Speaker 1: the house. He's a token of evil. Not the drains,
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: I hope, No, the gas ah. He has left two
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: nail marks from his boot upon your lnnoleum, just where
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: the light strikes it. No, thank you. I had some
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: supper at Waterloo, but i'll smoke a pipe with you
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: with pleasure. I handed him my pouch, and he seated
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  Speaker 1: himself opposite to me and smoked for some time in silence.
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: I was well aware that nothing but business of importance
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  Speaker 1: would have brought him to me at such an hour,
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  Speaker 1: so I waited patiently until he should come round to it.
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  Speaker 1: I see that you are professionally rather busy just now,
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  Speaker 1: said he glancing very keenly across at me. Yes, I've
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  Speaker 1: had a busy day, I answered. It may seem very
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  Speaker 1: foolish in your eyes. I added, but really I don't
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  Speaker 1: know how you deduced it. Holmes chuckled to himself. I
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: have the advantage of knowing your habits, my dear Watson,
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: said he. When your round is a short one, you walk,
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: and when it is a long one, you use a hansom.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: As I perceive that your boots, although used, are by
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  Speaker 1: no means dirty, I cannot doubt that you are at
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: present busy enough to justify the handsome excellent, I cried Elementary,
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: said he. It is one of those instants is where
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  Speaker 1: the reasoner can produce an effect which seems remarkable to
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: his neighbor, because the latter has missed the one little
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: point which is the basis of the deduction. The same
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: may be said, my dear fellow, for the effect of
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: some of these little sketches of yours, which is entirely meretricious,
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  Speaker 1: depending as it does, upon your retaining in your own
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: hands some factors in the problem which are never imparted
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  Speaker 1: to the reader. Now at present I am in the
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: position of these same readers. For I hold in this
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  Speaker 1: hand several threads of one of the strangest cases which
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  Speaker 1: ever perplexed a man's brain. And yet I lack the
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: one or two which are needful to complete my theory.
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: But I'll have them, Watson, I'll have them. His eyes kindled,
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: and a slight flush sprang into his thin cheeks. For
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: an instant. Only when I glanced again, his face had
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: resumed that red Indian composure which had made so many
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: regard him as a machine rather than a man. The
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: problem presents features of interest, said he. I may even
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: say exceptional features of interest. I have already looked into
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  Speaker 1: the matter and have come, as I think, within sight
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  Speaker 1: of my solution. If you could accompany me in the
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: last step, you might be of considerable service to me.
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  Speaker 1: I should be delighted. Could you go as far as
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  Speaker 1: Aldershot tomorrow. I've no doubt Jackson would take my practice
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: very good. I want to start by the eleven ten
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: from Waterloo. That would give me time. Then, if you
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: are not too sleepy, I will give you a sketch
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  Speaker 1: of what has happened and of what remains to be done.
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: I was sleepy before you came. I am quite wakeful now.
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: I will compress the story as far as may be
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  Speaker 1: done without omitting anything vital to the case. It is
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  Speaker 1: conceivable that you may even have read some account of
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: the matter. It is the supposed merge of Colonel Barclay
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: of the Royal Munsters at Aldershot, which I am investigating.
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  Speaker 1: I've heard nothing of it. It has not excited much
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  Speaker 1: attention yet except locally. The facts are only two days old.
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  Speaker 1: Briefly they are these. The Royal Monsters is, as you know,
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  Speaker 1: one of the most famous Irish regiments in the British Army.
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  Speaker 1: It did wonders both in the Crimea and the mutiny,
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  Speaker 1: and that since that time distinguished itself upon every possible occasion.
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  Speaker 1: It was commanded up to Monday night by James Barclay,
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  Speaker 1: a gallant veteran who started as a full private, was
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  Speaker 1: raised to commission rank for his bravery at the time
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  Speaker 1: of the mutiny, and so lived to command the regiment
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  Speaker 1: in which he had once carried a musket. Colonel Barclay
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  Speaker 1: had married at the time when he was a sergeant,
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  Speaker 1: and his wife, whose maiden name was Miss Nancy Devoy,
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  Speaker 1: was the daughter of a former color sergeant in the
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  Speaker 1: same corps. There was, therefore, as can be imagined, some
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: little social friction when the young couple, or they were
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  Speaker 1: still young, found themselves in their new surroundings. They appear, however,
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  Speaker 1: to have quickly adapted themselves, and missus Berkley, as always,
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  Speaker 1: I understand, been as popular with the ladies of the
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  Speaker 1: regiment as her husband was with his brother officers. I
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  Speaker 1: may add that she was a woman of great beauty,
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  Speaker 1: and as even now, when she has been married for
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  Speaker 1: upwards of thirty years, she is still of a striking
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  Speaker 1: and queenly appearance. Colonel Barklay's family life appears to have
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  Speaker 1: been a uniformly happy one. Major Murphy, to whom I
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: owe most of my facts, assures me that he has
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: never heard of any misunderstanding between the pair. On the whole,
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  Speaker 1: he thinks that Berkeley's devotion to his wife was greater
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: than his wife's. To Berkeley, he was acutely uneasy if
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  Speaker 1: he were absent from her for a day. She, on
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  Speaker 1: the other hand, though devoted and faithful, was less obtrusively
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  Speaker 1: a fad affectionate. But they were regarded in the regiment
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  Speaker 1: as the very model of a middle aged couple. There
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: was absolutely nothing in their mutual relations to prepare people
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  Speaker 1: for the tragedy which was to follow. Colonel Barkley himself
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  Speaker 1: seems to have had some singular traits in his character.
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  Speaker 1: He was a dashing, jovial old soldier in his usual mood,
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  Speaker 1: but there were occasions on which he seemed to show
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  Speaker 1: himself capable of considerable violence and vindictiveness. This side of
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  Speaker 1: his nature, however, appears never to have been turned towards
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  Speaker 1: his wife. Another fact which had struck Major Murphy and
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  Speaker 1: three out of five of the other officers with whom
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: I conversed was the singular sort of depression which came
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  Speaker 1: upon him at times. As the Major expressed it, the
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  Speaker 1: smile had often been struck from his mouth, as if
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  Speaker 1: by some invisible hand, when he has been joining the
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  Speaker 1: gaieties and chaff of the mess table for days on end.
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  Speaker 1: When the mood was on him, he has been sunk
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  Speaker 1: in the deepest gloom. This and a certain tinge of
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  Speaker 1: superstition were the only unusual traits in his character which
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  Speaker 1: his brother officers had observed. The latter peculiarity took the
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  Speaker 1: form of a dislike to being left alone, especially after dark.
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: This puerile feature in a nature which was conspicuously manly,
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  Speaker 1: had often given rise to comment and conjecture. The first
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  Speaker 1: Battalion of the Royal Munsters, which is the old one
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  Speaker 1: hundred seventeenth, has been stationed at Aldershot for some years.
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  Speaker 1: The married officers live out of barracks, and the Colonel
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  Speaker 1: has during all this time occupied a villa called Lachene,
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  Speaker 1: about half a mile from the north camp. The house
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  Speaker 1: stands in its own grounds, but the west side of
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: it is not more than thirty yards from the high road.
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  Speaker 1: A coachman and two maids formed the staff of servants. These,
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  Speaker 1: with their master and mistress, were the sole occupants of Lachine,
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  Speaker 1: for the Berclays had no children, nor was it usual
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  Speaker 1: for them to have resident visitors. Now for the events
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: at Lachen between nine and ten on the evening of
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: last Monday, Missus Berkeley was, it appears, a member of
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  Speaker 1: the Roman Catholic Church, and had interested herself very much
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  Speaker 1: in the establishment of the Guild of Saint George, which
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  Speaker 1: was formed in connection with the Watt Street Chapel for
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  Speaker 1: the purpose of supplying the poor with cast off clothing.
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  Speaker 1: A meeting of the guild had been held that evening
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  Speaker 1: at eight, and Missus Berkeley had hurried over her dinner
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  Speaker 1: in order to be present at it. When leaving the house,
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  Speaker 1: she was heard by the coachman to make some commonplace
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  Speaker 1: remark to her husband and to assure him that she
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  Speaker 1: would be back before very long. She then called for
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  Speaker 1: missus Morrison, a young lady who lives in the next villa,
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  Speaker 1: and the two went off together to their meeting. It
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  Speaker 1: lasted forty minutes, and at a quarter past nine, Missus
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  Speaker 1: Berkeley returned home, having left miss Morrison at her door
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  Speaker 1: as she passed. There's a room which is used as
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  Speaker 1: a morning room at Lachine. This faces the road and
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  Speaker 1: opens by a large glass folding door onto the lawn.
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  Speaker 1: The lawn is thirty yards across and is only divided
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  Speaker 1: from the highway by a low wall with an iron
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  Speaker 1: rail above it. It was into this room that Missus Berkley
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  Speaker 1: went upon her return. The blinds were not down, for
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  Speaker 1: the room was seldom used in the evening, but Missus
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  Speaker 1: Barkley herself lit the lamp and then rang the bell,
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: asking Jane Stewart, the housemaid, to bring her a cup
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  Speaker 1: of tea, which was quite contrary to her usual habits.
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  Speaker 1: The colonel had been sitting in the dining room, but
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: hearing that his wife had returned, he joined her in
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  Speaker 1: the morning room. The coachman saw him cross the hall
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  Speaker 1: and enter it. He was never seen again alive. The tea,
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  Speaker 1: which had been ordered, was brought up at the end
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  Speaker 1: of ten minutes, but the maid, as she approached the door,
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  Speaker 1: was tries to hear the voices of her master and
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: mistress in furious altercation. She knocked without receiving any answer,
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  Speaker 1: and even turned the handle, but only to find that
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  Speaker 1: the door was locked upon the inside. Naturally enough, she
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: ran down to tell the cook, and the two women
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  Speaker 1: with the coachman came up into the hall and listened
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  Speaker 1: to the dispute, which was still raging. They all agreed
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  Speaker 1: that only two voices were to be heard, those of
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  Speaker 1: Berkeley and of his wife. Berkeley's remarks were subdued and abrupt,
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  Speaker 1: so that none of them were audible to the listeners.
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  Speaker 1: The ladies, on the other hand, were most bitter, and
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: when she raised her voice could be plainly heard. You coward,
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  Speaker 1: she repeated, over and over again. What can be done?
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  Speaker 1: What can be done? Now? Give me back my life.
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  Speaker 1: I will never so much as breathe the same air
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  Speaker 1: with you again. You cowared, you coward. Those were scraps
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  Speaker 1: of her conversation, ending in a sudden, dreadful cry in
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  Speaker 1: the man's voice, with a crash and a piercing scream
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  Speaker 1: from the woman. Convinced that some tragedy had occurred, the
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  Speaker 1: coachman rushed to the door and strove to force it,
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: while scream after scream issued from within. He was unable, however,
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  Speaker 1: to make his way in, and the maids were too
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  Speaker 1: distracted with fear to be of any assistance to him.
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  Speaker 1: A sudden thought struck him, however, and he ran through
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  Speaker 1: the hall door and round to the lawn upon which
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: the long French windows open. One side of the window
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: was open, which I understand was quite usual in the
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  Speaker 1: summer time, and he passed without difficulty into the room.
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: His mistress had ceased to scream, and was stretched insensible
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  Speaker 1: upon a couch, while with his feet tilted over the
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  Speaker 1: side of an arm chair and his head upon the ground.
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: Near the corner of the fender was lying the unfortunate
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: soldier Stone dead in a pool of his own blood. Naturally,
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: the coachman's first thought, on finding that he could do
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: nothing for his master, was to open the door. But
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: here an unexpected and singular difficulty presented itself. The key
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: was not in the inner side of the door, nor
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  Speaker 1: could he find it anywhere in the room. He went
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  Speaker 1: out again, therefore through the window, and having obtained the
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: help of a policeman and of a medical man, he returned.
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: The lady, against whom naturally the strongest suspicion rested, was
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: removed to her room, still in a state of insensibility.
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: The colonel's body was then placed upon the sofa, and
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: a careful examination made of the scene of the tragedy.
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: The injury from which the unfortunate veteran was suffering was
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: found to be a jagged cut some two inches long
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: at the back part of his head, which had evidently
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: been caused by a violent blow from a blunt weapon.
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: Nor was it difficult to guess what that weapon may
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: have been. Upon the floor, close to the body was
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: lying a singular club of hard carved wood with a
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: bone handle. The colonel possessed a varied collection of weapons,
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: brought from the different countries in which he had fought,
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: and it is conjectured by the police that his club
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: was among his trophies. The servants deny having seen it before,
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: but among the numerous curiosities in the house, it is
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: possible that it may have been overlooked. Nothing else of
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: importance was discovered in the room by the police, save
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: the inexplicable fact that neither upon Missus Barclay's person, nor
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: upon that of the victim, nor in any part of
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: the room, was the missing key to be found. The
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: door had eventually to be opened by a locksmith from Aldershot.
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: That was the state of things, Watson, when upon the
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: Tuesday morning, I, at the request of Major Murphy, went
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: down to Aldershot to supplement the efforts of the police.
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: I think that you will acknowledge that the problem was
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: already one of interest, But my observations soon made me
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: realize that it was, in truth much more extraordinary than
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: would at first sight appear. Before examining the room, I
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: cross questioned the servants, but only succeeded in eliciting the
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: facts which I have already stated. One other detail of
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: interest was remembered by Jane Stewart, the housemaid. You will
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: remember that, on hearing the sound of the quarrel, she
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: descended and returned with the other servants. On that first occasion,
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: when she was alone, she says that the voices of
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: her master and mistress were sunk so low that she
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: could hear hardly anything, and judged by their tones rather
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: than their words, that they had fallen out on my
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: pressing her. However, she remembered that she heard the word
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: David uttered twice by the lady. The point is of
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: the utmost importance as guiding us towards the reason of
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: the sudden quarrel. The colonel's name, you remember, was James.
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: There was one thing in the case which had made
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: the deepest impression, both upon the servants and the police.
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: This was the contortion of the colonel's face. It had set,
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: according to their account, into the most dreadful expression of
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: fear and horror which a human countenance is capable of assuming.
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: More than one person fainted at the mere sight of him.
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: So terrible was the effect, it was quite certain that
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: he had foreseen his fate, and that it had caused
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: him the utmost horror. This, of course, fitted in well
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: enough with the police theory. If the colonel could have
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: seen his wife making a murderous attack upon him. Nor
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: was the fact of the wound being on the back
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: of his head a fatal objection to this, as he
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: might have turned to avoid the blow. No information could
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: be got from the lady herself, who was temporarily insane
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: from an acute attack of brain fever. From the police,
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: I learned that Miss Morrison, who you remember, went out
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: that evening with Missus Barclay, denied having any knowledge of
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: what it was which had caused the ill humor in
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: which her companion had returned. Having gathered these facts, Watson
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: I smoked several pipes over them, trying to separate those
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: which were crucial from others which were merely incidental. There
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: could be no question that the most distinctive and suggestive
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: point in the case was the singular disappearance of the
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: door key. A most careful search had failed to discover
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: it in the room. Therefore it must have been taken
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: from it. But neither the colonel nor the colonel's wife
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: could have taken it. That was perfectly clear. Therefore a
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: third person must have entered the room, and that third
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: person could only have come in through the window. It
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: seemed to me that a careful examination of the room
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: and the lawn might possibly reveal some traces of this
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: mysterious individual. You know my methods, Watson. There was not
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: one of them which I did not apply to the inquiry,
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: and it ended by my discovering traces, but very different
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: ones from those which I had expected. There had been
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: a man in the room, and he had crossed the
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: lawn coming from the road. I was able to obtain
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: five very clear impressions of his footmarks, one in the
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: roadway itself at the point where he had climbed the
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: low wall, two on the lawn, and two very faint
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: ones upon the stained boards near the window where he
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: had entered. He had apparently rushed across the lawn, for
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: his toe marks were much deeper than his heels. But
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: it was not the man who surprised me. It was
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: his companion. His companion Holmes pulled a large sheet of
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: tissue paper out of his pocket and carefully unfolded it
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: upon his knee. What do you make of that? He asked?
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: The paper was covered with the tracings of the footmarks
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: of some small animal. It had five well marked footpads,
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: an indication of long nails, and the whole print might
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: be nearly as large as a dessert spoon. It's a dog,
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: said I. Did you ever hear of a dog running
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: up a curtain? I found distinct traces that this creature
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: had done so a monkey, then, But it is not
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: the print of a monkey. What can it be, then,
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: neither dog, nor cat, nor monkey, nor any creature that
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: we are familiar with. I have tried to reconstruct it
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: from the measurements. Here are four prints where the beast
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: has been standing motionless. You see that it is no
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: less than fifteen inches from four foot to hind. Add
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: to that the length of neck and head, and you
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: get a creature not much less than two feet long,
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: probably more tail. But now observe this other measurement. The
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: animal has been moving, and we have the length of
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: its stride. In each case it is only about three inches.
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: You have an indication, you see of a long body
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: with very short legs attached to it. It has not
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: been considerate enough to leave any of its hair behind it,
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: But its general shape must be what I have indicated.
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: And it can run up a curtain, and it is carnivorous.
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: How do you deduce that? Because it ran up the curtain.
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: A canary's cage was hanging in the window, and its
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: aim seems to have been to get at the bird.
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: Then what was the beast? Ah? If I could give
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: it a name, it might go a long way towards
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: solving the case. On the whole, it was probably some
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: creature of the weasel and stoat tribe. And yet it
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: is larger than any of these that I have seen.
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: But what had it to do with? A crime? That
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: also is still obscure. But we have learned a good deal,
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: you perceive. We know that a man stood in the
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: road looking at the quarrel between the barclays, the blinds
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: were up and the room lighted. We know also that
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: he ran across the lawn, entered the room accompanied by
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: a strange animal, and that he either struck the colonel, or,
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: as is equally possible, that the colonel fell down from
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: sheer fright at the sight of him and cut his
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: head on the corner of the fender. Finally, we have
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: the curious fact that the intruder carried away the key
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: with him when he left. Your discoveries seemed to have
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: left the business more obscure than it was before, said I,
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: quite so, they undoubtedly showed that the affair was much
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: deeper than was at first conjectured. I thought the matter over,
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: and I came to the conclusion that I must approach
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: the case from another aspect. But really, Watson, I am
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: keeping you up, and I might just as well tell
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: you all this on our way to Aldershot to morrow.
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: Thank you, you've gone rather too far to stop. It
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: is quite certain that when missus Barclay left the house
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: at half past seven, she was on good terms with
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: her husband. She was never, as I think I've said,
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: ostentatiously affectionate, but she was heard by the coachman chatting
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: with the colonel in a friendly fashion. Now it was
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: equally certain that immediately on her return she had gone
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: to the room in which she was least likely to
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: see her husband, had flown to tea as an agitated
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: woman will, and finally, on his coming in to her,
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: had broken into violent recriminations. Therefore, something had occurred between
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: seven thirty and nine o'clock which had completely altered her
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: feelings towards him. But Miss Morrison had been with her
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: during the whole of that hour and a half. It
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: was absolutely certain therefore, in spite of her denial that
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: she must know something of the matter. My first conjecture
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: was that possibly there had been some passages between this
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: young lady and the old soldier, which the former had
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: now confessed to the wife. That would account for the
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: angry return, and also for the girl's denial that anything
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: had occurred. Nor would it be entirely incompatible with most
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: of the words overheard. But there was the reference to David,
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: and there was the known affection of the colonel for
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: his wife to weigh against it, to say nothing of
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: the tragic intrusion of this other man, which might of
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: course be entirely disconnected with what had gone before. It
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: was not easy to pick one's steps, but on the
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: whole I was inclined to dismiss the idea that there
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: had been anything between the colonel and miss Morrison, but
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: more than ever, convinced that the young lady held the
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: clue as to what it was which had turned Missus
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: Barclay to hatred of her husband, I took the obvious
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: course therefore, of calling upon Missus m of explaining to
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: her that I was perfectly certain that she held the
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: facts in her possession, and of assuring her that her friend,
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: missus Barclay, might find herself in the dock upon a
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: capital charge unless the matter were cleared up. Miss Morrison
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: is a little ethereal slip of a girl with timid
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: eyes and blonde hair. But I found her by no
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: means wanting in shrewdness and common sense. She sat thinking
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: for some time after I had spoken, and then turning
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: to me with a brisk air of resolution, she broke
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: into a remarkable statement, which I'll condense for your benefit.
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: I promise my friend that I would say nothing of
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: the matter. And a promise is a promise, said she.
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: But if I can really help her when so serious
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: a charge is laid against her, and when her own mouth,
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: poor darling, is closed by illness, then I think I
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: am absolved from my promise. I will tell you exactly
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: what happened. Upon Monday evening, we were returning from the
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: Watt Street Mission about a quarter to nine o'clock. On
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: our way, we had to pass through Hudson Street, which
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: is a very quiet thoroughfare. There is only one lamp
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: in it upon the left hand side, and as we
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: approached this lamp, I saw a man coming towards us.
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: With his back very bent, and something like a box
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: slung over one of his shoulders. He appeared to be deformed,
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: for he carried his head low and walked with his
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: knees bent. We were passing him when he raised his
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: face to look at us in the circle of light
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: thrown by the lamp, and as he did so, he
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: stopped and screamed out in a dreadful voice, My god,
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: it's Nancy. Missus Berkeley turned as white as death and
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: would have fallen down had the dreadful looking creature not
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: caught hold of her. I was going to call for
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: the police, but she, to my surprise, spoke quite civilly
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: to the fellow. I thought you had been dead this
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: thirty years, henry, said she in a shaking voice. So
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: I am, said he, and it was awful to hear
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: the tones that he said it in. He had a
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: very dark, fearsome face and a gleam in his eyes
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: that comes back to me in my dreams. His hair
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: and whiskers were shot with gray, and his face was
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: all crinkled and puckered, like a withered apple. Just walk
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: on a little way, dear, said missus Barclay. I won't
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: have a word with this man. There's nothing to be
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: afraid of. She tried to speak boldly, but she was
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: still deadly pale, and could hardly get her words out
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: for the trembling of her lips. I did as she
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: asked me, and they talked together for a few minutes.
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: Then she came down the street with her eyes blazing,
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: and I saw the crippled wretch standing by the lamp
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: post and shaking his clenched fists in the air, as
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: if you were mad with rage. She never said a
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: word until we were at the door again, when she
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: took me by the hand and begged me to tell
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: no one what had happened. It's an old acquaintance of
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: mine who's come down in the world, said she. When
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: I promised her I would say nothing, she kissed me,
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: and I have never seen her since. I've told you
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: now the whole truth, and if I withheld it from
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: the police, it is because I did not realize then
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: the danger in which my dear friend stood. I know
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: that it can only be to her advantage that everything
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: should be known. There was her statement, Watson, and to me,
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: as you can imagine, it was like a light on
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: a dark night. Everything which had been disconnected before began
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: at once to assume its true place, and I had
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: a shadowy presentiment of the whole sequence of events. My
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: next step, obviously, was to find the man who had
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: produced such a remarkable impression upon missus Barclay. If he
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: were still in Aldershot, it should not be a very
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: difficult matter. There are not such a very great number
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: of civilians, and a deformed man was sure to have
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: attracted attention. I spent a day in the search, and
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: by evening this very evening Watson I had run him down.
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: The man's name is Henry Wood, and he lives in
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: lodgings in this same street in which the ladies met him.
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: He has only been five days in the place. In
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: the character of a registration agent, I had a most
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: interesting gossip with his landlady. The man is by trade
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: a conjurer and performer, going round the canteens after nightfall
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: and giving a little entertainment at each He carries some
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: creature about with him in that box, about which the
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: landlady seemed to be in considerable trepidation, for she had
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: never seen an animal like it. He uses it in
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: some of his tricks, according to her account, so much
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: the woman was able to tell me, and also that
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: it was a wonder the man lived, seeing how twisted
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: he was, and that he spoke in a strange tongue sometimes,
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: and that for the last two nights she had heard
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: him groaning and weeping in his bedroom. He was all
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: right as far as money went. But in his deposit
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: he had given her what looked like a bad florin.
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: She showed it to me, Watson, and it was an
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: Indian rupee. So now, my dear fellow, you see exactly
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: how we stand, and why it is I want you.
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: It is perfectly plain that after the ladies parted from
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: this man, he followed them at a distance, that he
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: saw the quarrel between husband and wife through the window,
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: that he rushed in, and that the creature which he
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: carried in his box got loose. That is all very certain.
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: But he is the only person in this world who
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: can tell us exactly what happened in that room. And
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: you intend to ask him, most certainly, but in the
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: presence of a witness, and I am the witness, if
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: you will be so good if he can clear the
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: matter up well, and good if he refuses we have
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: no alternative but to apply for a warrant. But how
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: do you know he'll be there when we return? You
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: may be sure that I took some precautions. I have
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: one of my Baker Street boys mounting guard over him,
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: who would stick to him like a burr. Go where
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: he might. We shall find him in Hudson Street to morrow, Watson.
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: And meanwhile, I should be the criminal myself if I
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: kept you out of bed any longer. It was midday
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: when we found ourselves at the scene of the tragedy,
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: and under my companion's guidance, we made our way at
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: once to Hudson Street. In spite of his capacity for
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: concealing his emotions, I could easily see that Holmes was
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: in a state of suppressed excitement, while I was myself
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: tingling with that half sporting, half intellectual pleasure which I
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: invariably experience when I associated myself with him in his investigations.
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: This is a street, said he, as we turned into
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: a short thoroughfare lined with plain two storied brick houses.
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: Ah here is Simpson to report, is in all right?
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: Mister Owns, cried a small street arab running up to us.
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: Good Simpson said, Holmes, patting him on the head. Come along, Watson,
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: this is the house. He sent in his card with
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: a message that he had come on important business. And
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: a moment later we were face to face with the
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: man whom we had come to see in spite of
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: the warm weather. He was crouching over a fire, and
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: the little room was like an oven. The man sat
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: all twisted and huddled in his chair in a way
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: which gave an indescribable impression of deformity. But the face
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: which he turned towards us, though worn and swathy, must
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: at some time have been remarkable for its beauty. He
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: looked suspiciously at us now out of yellow shot, bilious eyes,
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: and without speaking or rising, he waved towards two chairs.
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: Mister Henry Wood, late of India, I believe, said Holmes affably.
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: I've come over this little matter of Colonel Barclay's death.
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: What should I know about that? That's what I want
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: to ascertain. You know. I suppose that unless the matter
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: is cleared up, missus Barclay, who is an old friend
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: of yours, will in all probability be tried for murder.
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: The man gave a violent start. I don't know who
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: you are, he cried, Nor how you come to know
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: what you do know? But will you swear that this
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: is true, that you tell me why they are only
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: waiting for her to come to her senses to arrest her.
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: My god, are you in the police yourself? No? What
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: business is it of yours? Then it's every man's business
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: to see us is done. You can take my word
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: that she is innocent. Then you are guilty. No, I'm
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: not who killed Colonel James Barclay. Then it was a
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: just providence that killed him. But mind you this that
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: if I had knocked his brains out, as it was
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: in my heart to do, he would have had no
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: more than his due from my hands. If his own
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: guilty conscience had not struck him down. It is likely
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: enough that I may have had his blood upon my soul.
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: You want me to tell the story, Well, I don't
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: know why I shouldn't, for there's no cause for me
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: to be ashamed of it. It was in this way, sir,
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: You see me now, with my back like a camel
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: and my ribs all awry. But there was a time
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: when Corporal Henry Wood was the smartest man in the
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: one hundred and seventeenth foot. We were in India, then
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: in cantonments, at a place we'll call Bertie. Berkeley, who
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: died the other day, was sergeant in the same company
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: as myself, and the bell of the regiment. Ay, And
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: the finest girl that ever had the breath of life
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: between her lips was Nancy Devoy, the daughter of the
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: color sergeant. There were two men who loved her, and
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: one that she loved. And you'll smile when you look
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: at this poor thing huddle before the fire and hear
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: me say that it was for my good looks that
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: she loved me. Well. Though I had her heart, her
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: father was set upon her marrying Berkley. I was a
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: harem scareum, reckless lad and he had had an education
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: and was already marked for the sword belt. But the
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: girl held true to me, and it seemed that I
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: would have had her. When the mutiny broke out and
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: all hell was loose in the country, we were shut
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: up in Bertie, the regiment of us with half a
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: battery of artillery, a company of Sikhs, and a lot
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: of civilians and women folk. There were ten thousand rebels
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: around us, and they were as keen as a set
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: of terriers round a rack cage. About the second week
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: of it, our water gave out, and it was a
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: question whether we could communicate with General Neill's column, which
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: was moving up country. It was our only chance, for
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: we could not hope to fight our way out with
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: all the women and children. So I volunteered to go
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: out and to warn General Neil of our danger. My
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: offer was accepted, and I talked it over with Sergeant Berkley,
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: who was supposed to know the ground better than any
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: other man, and who drew up a route by which
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: I might get through the rebel lines at ten o'clock
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: the same night I started off upon my journey. There
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: were a thousand lives to save, but it was of
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: only one that I was thinking when I dropped over
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: the wall that night. My way ran down a dried
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: up water course, which we hoped would screen me from
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: the enemy's sentries. But as I crept round the corner
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: of it, I walked right into six of them, who
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: were crouching down in the dark waiting for me. In
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: an instant I was stunned with a blow and bound
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: hand and foot. But the real blow was to my
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: heart and not to my head. For as I came
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: to and listened to as much as I could understand
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: of their talk, I heard enough to tell me that
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: my comrade, the very man who had arranged the way
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: that I was to take, had betrayed me by means
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: of a native servant, into the hands of the enemy. Well,
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: there's no need for me to dwell on that part
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: of it, you know now what James Berkeley was capable of.
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: Bertie was relieved by Niil next day, but the rebels
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: took me away with them in their retreat, and it
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: was many a long year before ever I saw a
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: white face again. I was tortured and tried to get away,
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: and was captured and tortured again. You can see for
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: yourselves the state in which I was left. Some of
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: them that fled into Nepal took me with them, and
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: then afterwards I was up past our jealing. The hill
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: folk up there murdered the rebels who had me, and
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: I became their slave for a time until I escaped.
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: But instead of going south, I had to go north
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: until I found myself among the Afghans. There. I wandered
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: about for many a year, and at last came back
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: to the Punjab, where I lived mostly among the natives,
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: and picked up a living by the conjuring tricks that
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: I had learned. What use was it for me, a
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: wretched cripple, to go back to England, or to make
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: myself known to my old comrades. Even my wish for
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: revenge would not make me do that. I had rather
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: that Nancy in my old pals, should think of Harry
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: Wood as having died with a straight back, than see
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: him living and crawling with a stick like a chimpanzee.
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: They never doubted that I was dead, and I meant
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: that they never should. I heard that Barclay had married Nancy,
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: and that he was rising rapidly in the regiment. But
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: even that did not make me speak. But when one
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: gets old, one has a longing for home. For years,
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: I've been dreaming of the bright green fields and the
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: hedges of England. At last I determined to see them
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: before I died. I saved enough to bring me across,
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: and then I came here where the soldiers are, for
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: I know their ways and how to amuse them, and
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: so earn enough to keep me. Your narrative is most interesting,
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: said Sherlock Holmes. I have already heard of your meeting
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: with Missus Barclay and your mutual recognition. You then, as
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: I understand, followed her home and saw through the window
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: an altercation between her husband and her, in which she
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: doubtless cast his conduct to you in his teeth your
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: own feelings. Overcame you, and you ran across the lawn
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: and broke in upon them. I did, sir, and at
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: the sight of me, he looked as I have never
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: seen a man look before. And over he went, with
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: his head on the fender. But he was dead before
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: he fell. I read death on his face as plain
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: as I can read that text over the fire. The
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: bare sight of me was like a bullet through his
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: guilty heart. And then then Nancy fainted, and I caught
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: up the key of the door from her hand, intending
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: to unlock it and get help. But as I was
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: doing it, it seemed to me better to leave it
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: alone and get away, for the thing might look black
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: against me, and anyway my secret would be out if
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: I were taken. In my haste, I thrust the key
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: into my pocket and dropped my stick while I was
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: chasing Teddy, who had run up the curtain. When I
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: got him into his box, from which he had slipped.
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: I was off as fast as I could run. Who's Teddy,
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: asked Holmes. The man leaned over and pulled up the
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: front of a kind of hutch in the corner. In
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: an instant out there slipped a beautiful reddish brown creature,
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: thin and Lithe with the legs of a stoat, a long,
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: thin nose, and a pair of the finest red eyes
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: that ever I saw in an animal's head. It's a mongoose,
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: I cried. Well, some call them that, and some call
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: them ick newman said the man snake catcher is what
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: I call them, and Teddy is amazing quick on Cobra's
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: I have one here without the fangs, and Teddy catches
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: it every night to please the folk in the canteen.
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: Any other point, sir, well, we may have to apply
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: to you again if missus Berkley should prove to be
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: in serious trouble. In that case, of course I'd come forward.
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: But if not, there is no object in raking up
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: this scandal against a dead man, Foully as he has acted.
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: You have at least the satisfaction of knowing that for
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: thirty years of his life, his conscience bitterly reproached him
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: for this wicked deed. Ah, there goes Major Murphy on
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: the other side of the street. Goodbye, Wood. I want
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: to learn if anything has happened since yesterday. We were
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: in time to overtake the Major before he reached the corner. Ah, Holmes,
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: he said, I suppose you've heard that all this fuss
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: has come to nothing. What then the inquest is just over.
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: The medical evidence shows conclusively that death was due to apoplexy.
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: You see, it was quite a simple case after all. Oh,
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: remarkably superficial, said Holmes, smiling. Come, Watson, I don't think
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: we shall be wanted in Aldershot any more. There's one thing,
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: said I, as we walked down to the station. If
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: the husband's name was James and the other was Henry,
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: what was this talk about, David? That one word, my
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: dear Watson, should have told me the whole story. Had
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: I been the ideal reasoner which you are so fond
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: of depicting, it was evidently a term of reproach. Of reproach. Yes,
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: David strayed a little occasionally, you know, and on one
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: occasion in the same direction as Sergeant James Barclay. You
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: remember the small fair of Uriah and Bathsheba. My biblical
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: knowledge is a trifle rusty, I fear, but you will
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: find the story in the first or second of Samuel,
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: End of the Crooked Man.